A blog devoted to news in Glendale

Glendale

Mayor de Blasio and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley are hosting a town hall meeting on Monday, December 18 at 7 p.m. It will be at PS/IS 113 (78-23 87th Street).

These are the town halls where the mayor takes questions from community members. Usually, de Blasio starts off by touting some of his accomplishments, such as universal pre-k.

But issues not as favorable to his record, such as homelessness, are sure to come up. He may have to defend his new plan to create 90 shelters citywide.

Here at the Glendale Blog, we’re curious as to why the mayor decided to have the town hall just weeks before newly-elected Councilman Bob Holden takes office. Why have the town hall with Crowley when she’s out the door at the end of the year?

Note that this district is the only one where an incumbent, supported by de Blasio, lost. Not only did she lose, she lost to a challenger who explicitly ran against de Blasio’s agenda.

We think something’s up. How will Holden respond when the mayor walks in with Crowley? Will they even acknowledge the councilman-elect?

Be there to find out. RSVP by December 17 at 5 p.m. via email to queenstownhall@cityhall.nyc.gov or by calling 212-788-4282.

This Monday, December 4, your pets will have a chance to meet the big guy.
The Shops at Atlas Park has reserved the special time between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. for your furry friends to visit Santa! At this time, the event is for cats and dogs only. Please be sure to have your pet on a leash or in a pet carrier.
The Shops at Atlas Park is located at 8000 Cooper Avenue in Glendale.
Will you bring your pets for a photo? Let us know!

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz is now accepting applications from community-minded people to serve on their local community board. Glendale is represented by Community Board 5.

Community boards play an advisory role, contributing to land use and zoning decisions, city budget priorities and public hearings on a variety of local neighborhood issues.

Each board meets a full meeting monthly, and members also participate in individual committees, which host regular meetings.

“Government works better when we have active and engaged members from whom to draw expansive knowledge and extensive life experiences,” Katz said. “Serving on a community board is a significant commitment, demanding in both time and energy.”

“Civic-minded residents interested in playing a larger role in the governance of the city, helping to ensure the delivery of municipal services and serving Queens families and neighborhoods are encouraged to apply.”

Today, November 13th, the prototype of a new potential method of transportation connecting Brooklyn and Queens was revealed. The model BQX was unveiled at the New Lab technology space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The line would run 14 miles along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront from Astoria to Sunset Park.

Executive Director of Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector, Ya-Ting Liu advocated for the new line saying, “…now is the moment to move forward with this transformative project to connect hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, including over 40,000 public housing residents, to jobs, education, healthcare and recreation along the route.”

Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams believes this train will solve the lack of interconnectedness between the two areas. “Everyone is on board, for the most part, with the concept that we need better transportation from waterfront to inland.”

Despite these benefits, some concerns among residents still exist. The fact that the train would not be connected to the MTA and would therefore require its own fare was one of the concerns. The project could be completed as early as 2024.

In an epic turnaround, after getting only 36% of the votes in the September Democratic Primary Election in the 30th Council District, it appears civic activist Robert Holden has turned the tables on incumbent, Glendale resident, Elizabeth Crowley as the board of elections has their count at 10,221 votes for Holden and 10,088 votes for Crowley by late Tuesday evening. A source close to the board of elections reported to us that there are 400 to 500 absentee ballots not yet counted, but he noted that it appears Holden was the one who focused on an absentee ballot program, not Crowley.

After that September democratic primary race, the Queens Republican Party took their ballot designee off the November ballot and replaced him with Holden, who got 8,457 votes on that line. Holden also received more than 1400 votes on the Conservative line and 140 votes o the ‘Dump deBlasio line.

Holden obviously hit a nerve for voters while campaigning on a platform charging Crowley was corrupt, school kids need to have priority to get into their local High School and stopping Mayor deBlasio from destroying the district. He claimed the Mayor and Crowley want to close Rikers Island, eventually putting jails in our neighborhoods. Holden was out front in the protest at the Maspeth Holiday Inn as it was being used as a homeless shelter, blaming Crowley for not doing enough to protect the neighborhood from the mayor’s homelesss plan. Late in the campaign it was noted that Holden had a hefty social media campaign, targeted digital text messaging and hyper-targeted mailings to get his message across.

If the numbers hold as they are now, Holden, a lifelong democrat, and president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, will be that rare breed of true civic activist – turned politician, a good sign for helping protect the character of the neighborhood in a city which is turning more centralized by the minute.

While down-zoning, getting more officers in the 104th precinct and enforcing traffic laws are on the top of Holden’s to-do list his first real decision might be his political party affiliation.

His loss was immediately felt not only in Glendale and the surrounding neighborhoods, but also in Long Island, where he lived with his young family.

“Firefighter Tolley dedicated his life to public service. No matter the task, he put others before himself, and paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our community,” Crowley said. “We will never forget his sacrifice and his legacy will live on through this street co-naming.”

The date of the co-naming ceremony will be announced soon. Stay tuned.

If you feel Ridgewood and its surrounding neighborhoods are being threatened by overdevelopment and the g-word (gentrification), here’s a bit of good news.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley has requested the Department of City Planning begin a process to downzoning her district, including Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale.

Earlier this month, Community Board 5 already passed a proposal to downzone portions of Ridgewood.

Local residents are weary about the ongoing conversions from single-family homes to two-family rowhouses.

“Today’s significant development pressures are creating new construction that is out of scale in our local communities,” Crowley said. “The Department of City Planning must take another comprehensive look at the district. It is our goal to find ways to maintain the existing built from and to ensure real-world impacts related to parking, traffic and schools are fully considered.”